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Chase Total Checking and Savings: Easy Everyday Banking

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If you're shopping for a bank to open a checking or savings account at, you're probably wondering which bank is best: local credit union, exclusive online bank, or one that provides both online and brick and mortar services. While online exclusive banks may offer slightly lower fees or higher APYs, a large, traditional bank can provide valuable resources and services along with integrated online and mobile options that make banking a breeze.

Take, for example, Chase Total Checking®. Their motto is “Simple and Accessible” — and with 15,500 Chase ATMs and 5,400 branches across the nation, it won’t be too difficult to find a location to get cash or deposit checks in person. And you can get even more out of your banking if you open a Chase SavingsSM account too. And they're offering new customers up to a $250 bonus! See details below.

How to Open an Account

To open a Chase Total Checking® account, you need to deposit a minimum of $25. There is a $12 monthly service fee, which you can get around by doing one of the following:

Make direct deposits to your account totaling $500 or more.

Maintain a $1,500 minimum daily balance.

Maintain an average daily balance of $5,000 or more in qualifying linked deposits or investments.

The minimum deposit for a savings account is also $25. The monthly fee is $5, which is waived if you do one of the following:

Maintain a $300 minimum daily balance.

Have at least one repeating automatic transfer of at least $25 from your personal Chase checking account.

Sign-up Offers

Chase is offering $150 for their new customers who open a Chase Total Checking® account and set up direct deposit. If you open a new Chase SavingsSM account (even if you already do some of your banking with Chase), you can get $100 by depositing $10,000 in new money within 10 business days and keeping a $10,000 balance for 90 days. This means that you can receive $250 if you qualify for both offers! But be sure to jump on them soon — these offers expire October 14, 2015.

Online and Mobile Banking

If you prefer to do your banking from the comfort of your living room — or really, anywhere with Internet connection — Chase offers online and mobile banking. Some of their services include:

Chase QuickDeposit: Take a picture of your check and deposit it with the Chase Mobile App. Easy!

Chase QuickPay: Send money to another person, no cash or checks necessary. Just enter the recipient’s email address or mobile number and Chase will send them an email with instructions on how to accept the payment. They don't have to be a Chase customer, but they do have to create a Chase user account.

Online Bill Pay: Your bill payments will be sent on the date you specify. If your payment is ever delayed, Chase will refund 100% of any late fees (provided they got the payment request before the cutoff time and the payee information was correct).

Automatic Savings

You can set up a repeating automatic transfer from your Chase checking to your savings account...and forget about it! Actually, don't, because it's important to monitor your money. But there's no denying that Chase's Automatic Transfer Program takes most of the effort out of saving, and it's an easy way to get the monthly fee on your savings account waived — just set the transfer amount to at least $25 a month.

Account Alerts

Need to keep a close eye on your account? (I mean, who doesn’t?) Chase will text or email you if your account is low on funds, there is a large transaction, or other account activity. It’s easy to personalize what account alerts you receive and how you receive them.

Pros

$250 is an attractive sign-up offer! Plus, between the online/mobile banking offerings and account alerts, it’s easy to stay on top of your finances wherever you are. And you'll likely never worry about having to hunt down a Chase ATM or branch, if you need to access your money quickly or get a banker's help.

Cons

You might forget about the minimum balance or requirements for waiving the monthly fee and get hit with it. That's one of the disadvantages of having an account that "waives" your fee rather than provides it for free. Capital One 360 offers a free interest bearing checking account, and Discover offers a savings account with a whopping 1.50% APY for all balances.

Are Chase Total Checking® and SavingsSM Right for You?

If you're looking for a solid bank with both a physical presense as well as plenty of online and mobile conveniences, Chase is a great option. Along with their basic banking offerings, Chase has a good reputation for their other consumer products like credit cards. Having a lot of your financial accounts under one company can be incredibly convenient.

Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Wise Bread is an independent, award-winning, advertising-supported website. Many credit card offers that appear here are from companies from which Wise Bread receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). Wise Bread does not include all card offers in the marketplace.

Checking Accounts

Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which Wise Bread receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Please view our advertiser disclosure page for more information.